Rennes
📷 Wikimedia Commons contributor· CC BY-SA 3.0Rennes, a city where history and modernity blend seamlessly.
About
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany region and Ille-et-Vilaine department. In 2023, the city had a population of 230,890 inhabitants, while the larger metropolitan area is the 10th most populated in France with a population of 789,516. The inhabitants of Rennes are called Rennais (masculine) and Rennaises (feminine) in French.
Wikipedia →Summary excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rennes, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text may be clipped or paraphrased to fit this page.
Why visit
Visit Rennes for streets, public buildings, local museums, and regional context. For Rennes, the useful material is practical and visible: museums, streets, religious buildings, markets, performance spaces, food, and nearby landscapes. A good itinerary should stay selective. The strongest plan in Rennes usually starts with one main stop and treats the surrounding streets as part of the visit. The result is a day in Rennes that can be followed, remembered, and adjusted. If Rennes has useful day trips or nearby landscape, use them to widen the context rather than to overload the schedule.
When to avoid
Do not visit Rennes expecting every useful stop to be close together or easy to improvise. In Rennes, opening hours, transport, weather, crowds, and distance can shape the day more than the list of sights. In Rennes, keep the plan compact, check hours before arrival, and use taxis or rideshares when public transport is inconvenient or safety varies by area. If the main interest is one nearby site, it may be better to treat Rennes as a base rather than the whole destination.
Summer (June to August)
In Rennes, the warm season usually means June through August. In Rennes, summer comfort depends on humidity and storm patterns as much as temperature. For Rennes, the cultural route should move between streets and interiors rather than staying exposed for hours. Use the edges of the day in Rennes for longer walks, then make the middle hours slower and more interior.
Winter (December to February)
December through February are the cooler or wetter period in Rennes. In Rennes, winter often shifts attention toward performances, museums, cafes, and long walks when the weather cooperates. For Rennes, ask how much the season limits walking, transport, and day trips, not just what the thermometer says. In Rennes, this is often a season for interiors, short walks, and slower observation rather than ambitious routing. Use taxis or rideshares in Rennes when the practical gain is clear, especially after dark or in weather that makes waiting for transit unpleasant.
The next week in Rennes
7-day forecast from Open-Meteo. UV badges flag days when sun protection matters (3 and above is moderate; 8 and above is risk territory for unprotected fair skin within 30 minutes).
Today
Rain
15° / 5°
2.5 mm
UV High
Sat
Drizzle
16° / 5°
1.1 mm
UV Moderate
Sun
Drizzle
16° / 10°
2.7 mm
UV Moderate
Mon
Drizzle
14° / 9°
6.3 mm
UV Moderate
Tue
Rain
19° / 11°
6.5 mm
UV High
Wed
Drizzle
20°
In May 16
JFMAMJJASOND
Air quality
No monitoring station within 25 km.
Weather
29° / 1°
Typical high / low
2 mm rainfall this month
Daylight
15.1h
06:28 – 21:37local
Year-round climate
Monthly highs, lows, and rainfall (long-term averages, NASA POWER).
Airports near Rennes
3 commercial airports within 100 km. Closest is Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS) at 7 km.
Getting around Rennes
Public-transit operators within 8 km of the city center. Click through to each operator’s site for routes, fares, and tickets.
Local transit operators
VectareLEXFlixBus-euBreizhGo en Ille-et-VilaineTER BreizhGoBlaBlaCar BusFlixBus-deFlixBus-deNomad Train (SNCF, Région Normandie)Cap Cotentin (Cherbourg, Agglo. du Cotentin)STARB MetroSNCF VoyageursBrittany Ferries
Operators and modes aggregated by TransitLand from individual transit-agency GTFS feeds. Route classifications (subway / tram / rail / bus / etc) come from each feed’s GTFS route_type codes.
Sister cities
Saved on my Rennes list
4 pins · 4 visited
See these as a focused list: Things to do in Rennes →
Sources
This page blends public reference data, climate/elevation services, and personal notes. Travel requirements can change, so visa and entry details should be checked again before booking.
- Wikipedia →
Summary, canonical article, and some image fallbacks.
- Wikidata →
Population, area, image, coordinates, and linked identifiers where available.
- NASA POWER →
Monthly temperature and rainfall climatology.
- Open-Meteo historical weather →
1991-2020 temperature and precipitation cross-check for compact climate fields.
- Open-Elevation →
Coordinate-based elevation backfill.
- tz database →
Coordinate-based IANA timezone lookup.
- City flag source →
CC BY-SA 4.0, GwenofGwened.
- Site credits →
Global source notes, map tiles, flags, licenses, and attribution policy.